No proposal to set up madrassa board: Sibal

New Delhi: Denying reports that Government
proposed to set up a madrassa board, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said there was little support to the formation of such a
regulatory board from the Muslim community.

"There is no proposal, because unless the community wants
it, why should we intervene... unless the community comes
forward we will not discuss it," he said at a function here.

The minister, however, said he had discussed the issue
with MPs after a proposal was made in this direction by the
National Commission for Minority Education, "but the MPs
opposed it".
Making it clear that the Government has never proposed to
set up such a board, Sibal said the board is a suggestion of
the Sachar Committee that felt that the functioning and
modernisation of the madrassas should be supervised by a body
which has more academics than theologians.

He added that there are special programmes for the
minority community in the country.

"Wherever there is a concentration of the minority, we
have programmes for setting up institutions of higher
education. We are moving forward in that direction," he said.

A delegation of Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind had recently met the
minister seeking the setting up of a board for madrassas
modelled on the Council for the Indian School Certificate
Examination.
Talking about emerging trends in higher education, Sibal
said the broader objective of the Government is to move
towards a system where there is an element of regulation and
little role of "inspection raj".

He said legislations like the Malpractice Bill and
National Accreditation Regulatory Authority Bill would improve
quality in higher education and stop institutes from "duping"
students and parents.

Sibal also dismissed apprehensions that the influx of
foreign universities into the country following the passage of
the Foreign Universities Bill will lead to "cultural
invasion".

The Bill has enough provisions to keep away non-serious
players and fly-by-night operators from the country, he said.

The HRD minister released two books on the occasion --
`Emerging trends in Higher Education in India: Concepts and
Practices` edited by K N Panikkar and M Bhaskaran Nair and
`Quality Access and Social Justice in Higher Education` edited
by K N Panikkar, Thomas Joseph, Geetha G and M A Lal.